


Hope

by flippantninny



Series: Bethyl Week [7]
Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 21:28:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2165832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flippantninny/pseuds/flippantninny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bethyl Week Day Seven</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope

**Author's Note:**

> For the seventh day of Bethyl Week.

“‘s’not Lori,” Daryl had said the night before. Beth had been feeling more terrified each day, and that night, in that shitty house they’d holed up in, she was really glad she had Daryl.

“‘s’not Lori, she’s younger ‘n healthier and we got Bob now,” he crooned, kissing her on the head, “she’ll be fine.”

"I know," Beth replied, tracing circles into his chest, "still scared though."

She couldn’t help but think back to a few days earlier, when Maggie had looked in her eyes and made her promise.

_If it ends up bein’ a choice between the baby ‘n me, you choose the baby, you got that? Just like Lori, nothin’s more important than this baby right now, you have to promise me if it comes to it you’ll let me go to save it._

  
It wasn’t a promise Beth wanted to keep. Choosing between her sister and her niece or nephew was too cruel. She hoped Daryl was right. But she couldn’t shake the image of Maggie and Carl, walking out from the prison with a crying Judith, and Rick, falling apart when he heard the news. His arm pulled her closer to him, as though he knew where her mind was wandering. She’d pulled him out of darkness enough times in the last year, he didn’t mind when it was his turn to show her some light.

"They picked out a name yet?"

Beth nodded against him, “Josephine-Anne if it’s a girl, Josie,” she paused a second, his arm around her tightened a little more, “Josie for her momma, Anne for mine. Annette.”

Daryl kissed the top of her head again, then asked “if it’s a boy?”

"Shawn."

"Like yer brother."

Beth nodded, her face rubbing against his chest, “he woulda been the best uncle, if it’s a girl he woulda been so overprotective. Threatinin’ to shoot any boys if they messed with her, teachin’ her to shoot them herself if she needed.”

She smiled against his chest. It still wasn’t easy, remembering the people they’d lost, but talking about the good memories helped. Letting them be forgotten was an injustice.

"And if it’s a boy he’d’ve been teachin’ him to drive before he could walk and givin’ him tips on talkin’ to girls. Maggie would be pissed, tellin’ him to stop corruptin’ her child."

They were silent for a minute, Beth’s mind full of Shawn and the baby, then just full of Shawn, full of memories. Full of the first time a boy broke her heart, Danny Shults in the third grade, and Shawn had picked her up from school and called him a ‘little prick’ in front of all her seven year old classmates.

Thinking back Shawn could only have been about thirteen at the time, but he seemed like the most grown up person on Earth, her big brother and her protector. And she had feigned shock at his words and threatened to tell Hershel what he said, but she’d never felt more loved. This new baby probably wasn’t going to need defending from middle school jerks, but if it did, she knew exactly who would be there, ready to call every seven year old on Earth a little prick if he needed.

"You’re gonna be a great uncle," she said, pushing herself up a little to look up at him.

"We ain’t even married yet," he said, "can’t be an uncle if I ain’t even really related." She pretended not to notice the yet. Words like that little ‘yet’ freaked Daryl out, even when they came from his mouth.

"So. I’m the aunt, you’re gonna be the uncle. Gonna teach ‘em to shoot a crossbow and skin a squirrel."

He grunted, but it was an affirmative grunt, the sort of grunt that said ‘yes’ when he was too scared to. She leant up, pressing a kiss to his lips, before returning to her previous position; his chest as her pillow and his arm holding her close.

"Should get some sleep," he said, his thumb starting to rub circles on her hip.

They were woken up the next morning, before the sun had even risen, to Glenn, sprinting around the house yelling for Bob.

"Showtime," Daryl had said, pushing himself off the makeshift bed of blankets and coats on the floor. He held out a hand for Beth, pulling her up to him, into a hug, pressing a kiss to her head, then he said, just loud enough for her to hear, "go help your sister, everything’ll be fine."

And Beth took a second to appreciate him, to appreciate how openly loving he had become in the year since the prison, before she was running up the stairs to the only decent bed in the house, to her sister.

Daryl paced outside the bedroom. Bob, Glenn, Carol and Beth were in there, Glenn and Beth there for Maggie and Carol there because she still remembered her brief lessons from Lori’s pregnancy. The longer they spent in the room the more he had to fight the urge to open the door and check everything was okay. He needed Maggie to be okay. She was one of the good ones, her and Glenn. And Beth didn’t deserve to lose any more family. None of them did.

Then, two hours later, Carol and Bob left the room, smiles on their faces. He allowed himself a moment of relief before wondering where Beth was. He waited a second, debating whether to go in, but Beth appeared through the door, a bright smile on her face.

"Thought I’d give them some time, let them rest a bit," she said, as she walked over to Daryl, burying her face in his chest.

"Everyone’s fine?" he asked.

"Everyone’s fine," she replied, stepping away from him and leaning back against the nearest wall, sinking to the ground. He sat down beside her, his arm comfortably finding its place around her shoulders.

"Shawn or Josie?" he asked.

She smiled, looking up at him “Shawn Dale Greene Rhee,” she said, her smile almost splitting her face in two by the time she had finished reciting the name.

She could feel the rest of their group looking at them, smiling as they heard the news, but to her it was just the two of them, sharing this conversation, alone in the room.

"He looks just like Glenn, Maggie’s eyes though."

Daryl smirked, he’d never understood how people could see parents in a baby’s face, they all looked the same to him. But if there was anyone who would honestly attribute each feature to a parent, it would be Beth. And she was so earnest in everything she said and did, that he would probably see the baby and also see Maggie’s eyes, looking back at him.

Suddenly she reached behind her, sitting up slightly so she could grab something out of her back pocket. Her journal. The one that followed them everywhere, from the prison and half way to DC.

"What’re you doin’?" Daryl asked, as she flipped it open to the back cover, carefully writing a ‘1’ on the top left corner of the page.

"Gonna start tracking the days," she said, "365 days from now, you and me, and Maggie and Glenn, and everyone in the house, we’re gonna be celebrating Shawn’s first birthday. I know we’ll probably never know what day it is again, and none of us will know when our birthdays are, but if we’re ever gonna start tracking the days again, seems like today’s a good day to start. At least Shawn can have birthdays, right?"

He smiled, pulling her towards him so she was leant more on him than the wall. Daryl had given up on having children a long time before the dead started walking. He’d given up on having any family outside Merle too. He’d definitely given up on falling in love. But Beth wasn’t the sort of person who let you give up, she was the sort to come flying into someone’s life and tell them they’re not allowed to surrender to having a life anything less than perfect. And if he could have love and family, why couldn’t they have a kid?

"What if he had a cousin one day?" he asked, barely audibly, for Beth’s ears only.

She sat back from him, her eyes darting over his face, looking for some sign of a lie, some sign he was only joking.

"I mean- Shit - I know it’s hard, but Maggie and Glenn, they pulled it off. N’ Lil’ Asskicker’s still doin’ jus’ fine. I know it’s dangerous but we only live- fuck. Sorry." He paused, looking for the right words, "I ain’t good with this shit. You know, just we only live once, no use livin’ scared."

And he watched as her face went from shock to elation, as though despite the world falling apart, this was the best day of their lives. And he supposed in a way it was. It was the first time since they’d met that their family had gained a new member without questions of trust and dangerous circumstances and without losing one too.

And she leant forward, closing the gap between them and pressing her lips to his, kissing him as though no one else was in the room. It was the sort of kiss that wasn’t leading anywhere, a kiss for the sake of kissing, a kiss that said nothing more and nothing less than ‘I love you’.

And she smiled against his lips, pulling away slightly and resting her forehead against his.

"I didn’ mean right now," he joked, smiling back at her, his hand brushing through her hair, "maybe once we find somewhere to stay, see what we find in DC. Don’t want no kid of mine bein’ hauled ‘cross the country, gotta have a home."

She laughed, wrapping her hands around his neck and burying her face in his neck. He hugged her back, his hands pulling her close, promising himself he’d never forget this moment, this rare second of joy.

"C’mon," she said, pushing herself away from him and standing up, "think we’ve been waiting long enough, you ready to meet your godson?" she asked.

"Godson?" he asked, and she smiled at the look of utter surprise on his face. It wasn’t easy to shock a Dixon, she liked to appreciate it when she did.

"Uh huh," she nodded, as he pushed against the wall to stand up, "Maggie and Glenn told me the other day, decided they want you n’ me t’be godparents."

"You sure they didn’ mean jus’ you?" he asked. It was crazy enough to be thinking he could have his own kid, let alone that someone else might trust their kid with him.

"Specifically said ‘you and Daryl,’ both of us," she replied, grabbing his hand in hers.

"Shit," he said, taking the first step towards the bedroom, "suppose we should actually get married soon then."

Her face broke into another smile, and he thought for a second that she was smiling so much her cheeks were probably going to ache. And that was such a fantastic problem to have. And he thought maybe he might have that problem too, as the two of them opened the door to the dirty, old bedroom.


End file.
